Before the COVID-19 pandemic, I had prepared and hung a lovely show of my paintings at the James River Country Club. Sadly we were social distancing before many folks were able to enjoy the show. So I thought I’d share my own commentary with each painting for everyone to enjoy from the comfort of your own home. All of these paintings are currently available for purchase. If you are interested, please contact me and we can make safe and socially distant arrangements.
Blues Guitar and Horn
23.5×29.5
I have been painting jazz musicians for many years. My first renditions were more delineated. As I got more comfortable with the subject matter and how musicians held and played their instruments, I have gotten more willing to create more abstractly. I wanted the emotion, color, and essence to attract the viewer rather than the specifics.
End of Autumn
24×36
I am from New England and though this painting has a particular reference to Maine, it could be anywhere in the north. It is called The End of Autumn, because I see and feel the chill, and some iciness, along the shore. There is considerable texture in the painting because underneath, it is another painting and maybe even a third!
Bass Player
30×40
Another paint-over. When I find myself getting a bit too “tight” meaning the images are too delineated for my taste, I live with them for a while and then I paint over them. I added a musical score collage and random brushstrokes.
Break from Fishing
24×24
I has a solo show in Manteo. NC in 2019, and I wanted to have a painting that reflected the waterfront. But I found myself “over” boats and marine scenes. Instead I used my made-up young musicians along with a few added items from a photograph my friend Cyndi took for me.
Dalmatians
11×14
I have never owned a Dalmatian, but I know a cute pose when I see it. These two had such a bond I could not resist painting them.
Dance in the Garden
43.5×32.45
This is one of my larger paintings in a series of dancers that endured for many years. Luke and I took ballroom lessons for 3 years. It was a great time to not just experience the dance, but to see others actually perform. As always, the background becomes whatever I want it to be.
Dancing at the Festival
24×30
I have painted women for decades and my ladies all seem to move and wear colorful garments. This painting, like many others, includes imagined or made up figures. They’re based on my feelings at the time of the environment and the relationship of the women. The hula hoop looking circles of color are added to create more visual action.
Man with a Horn
20×16
I am still playing with this piece. Particularly the hat area. But not right now. The horn player is based loosely on musicians I saw and photographed in New Orleans.
I Still Have My Phone
30×24
My thanks to the young woman in Hampton who let me photograph her sitting in a shop window. I loved her clothing, pose, and the fact that it genuinely reflected the young people in my family with their “devices”
Jittery Jazz
24×18
This painting has at least two paintings beneath it. When things don’t work sometimes one must just destroy the painting to make it better; either by just painting a new version on top of the old or gessoing the whole thing and starting from scratch. I usually chose the former. He has a 50’s flair that reminds me of “the Fonz.”
Letting Loose the Jazz After Midnight
36×48
A large painting that I literally attacked. Keep throwing paint on until I finally evolved some forms that resembled musicians. There are many other ways I could have handled the design and colors but I will save them for another day.
Qualifying Time
22×28
My family has always cycled. Luke and I did a lot of tandem biking as well as bike tours that go inn to inn in New England and Barbados. These riders are racing. I used my brushstrokes and sometimes brush stem to add choice of color so that you, the viewer, would feel the motion.
Sax, Horn, Guitar
30×30
Another expression of my feelings watching musicians in the clubs on Bourbon Street. I did a quick sketch while we were inside one of the clubs. Al Hirt actually signed my sketch!
Seaside Park
24×24
I grew up near Long Island Sound in Connecticut and after school we would all troop down to the beach and the seawall. There really wasn’t much beach so this is improvised as well as my placement of a Tidewater oyster boat.
Sketch Artist
30×24
It is quite uncomfortable for me to draw in this sitting position, but others are not as stiff! Doing preliminary sketches is the best way to formulate an idea. I have spent too many hours trying to fix the unfixable because it was just a bad design.
